Free Fates Tied by Jack Wildman Page A

want to know why you won’t talk about your marriage,” Suzanne said one night a few months later.
    They had had dinner together, several in fact and even a few nights away, spread out over the last three months since the night they got together at Genesis Research’s event. Suzanne had undoubtedly enjoyed herself. Edward was a perfect gentleman when they were out in public together. He seemed to really listen when she began to talk to him about her day and he tried to keep the information that he shared about his research as simple as possible so that she could understand it. She loved to watch him speak so passionately about his work, about the things that got him fired up. His hands would move around, waving excitedly the more animated he got and he genuinely seemed to enjoy sharing his ideas with her.
    She was beginning to notice though, more and more, that whenever Suzanne brought up the past, tried to discuss hopes and dreams, her family or even making plans for some time in the future Edward would shut down. At first she had shrugged it off, believing that it was all because the relationship between them, whatever it was, was just so new that Edward didn’t want to put any undue pressure on the pair of them. But as time passed, as they had more and more time together she began to notice that it was any mention of the future or any form of emotional closeness that she tried to start up which Edward would immediately back away from.
    At one point she had asked if he wanted to come and stay overnight at hers when he mentioned a conference that was taking place nearby. He had quickly found an excuse to leave the room, claiming he had needed a shower. Suzanne had been hurt, there was no denying it, but she had put on a brave face when he returned and acted as though nothing was wrong. She had tried to bring it up again, playing it off as not wanting him to waste his money on a hotel room when she had a perfectly free bed that he could use but he had insisted on staying at the hotel, claiming it was a business expense that wouldn’t leave him out of pocket and that the hotel was closer to the conference centre then her flat was.
    “I just don’t talk about it,” Edward said sternly, “I don’t like to think about it, I don’t like to remember it and I definitely don’t like to talk about it with the woman I’m currently sleeping with.”
    “The woman?” Suzanne repeated, “Currently sleeping with?”
    Edward looked at her for a moment, his eyes wide like a deer in the headlights. She could tell that he knew that he had said something wrong. She hoped and prayed that he would figure it out for himself.
     
    As the number of nights that they spent together had increased Suzanne had begun to wonder whether that was all it was between them and the thought had crossed her mind that sex was the one truly intimate thing that they shared together.
    “I… um…” Edward stammered.
    Suzanne couldn’t help but feel a thrill run through her at having this strong intelligent man stammering for words like a teenage boy but her heart sank as she realised that he didn’t really understand that what he had said was wrong.
    “Dinner?” Edward suggested.
    “No,” Suzanne said firmly. “No, no dinner. I’m going to go now, I’ve just remembered some work at home I need to get done.”
    “Can’t it wait?” Edward asked, standing up quickly. He came over to her and put his arms around her, “I mean, this is the first night we’ve had together in weeks. I’ve been really busy with new research and I was barely able to get tonight off.”
    “I’m sorry but I can’t,” Suzanne said, pulling away, “I really need to get this event sorted and it’s another difficult client.”
    “But it’s just a birthday party,” Edward said. “Surely spending some time with me is more important.”
    “It might be just a birthday party to you,” Suzanne said coldly, “but it’s my job. I know it’s not ground breaking